Fun, Foibles, and Follies In Collaborative Research Bruce A. Hathaway ACS Southern Illinois Local Section Meeting February 7, 2000

Foible, According to Webster The part of a sword blade between the middle and the point. A minor flaw or shortcoming in personal character or behavior. An eccentric or whimsical liking or interest in something.

Introduction Collaborative research, to me, is where two or more individuals work together on a project. Each individual has defined responsibilities, and shares the credit, glory, honor, and (heaven-forbid) blame for the results. Ideally, the collaborators should work as equals, and have input on the planning, direction, and dissemination of the results. In this presentation, I will share some of the collaborative projects I have been involved with, including how the collaboration was initiated, the nature of the collaboration, and the good and bad points of the collaborations.

2-Aminoindanes with Steve Overmann Students got us together (Archie Thurston and Rick Tolan). 6 students involved: Two went on and obtained Ph.D.’s (Archie Thurston and Chip Wittenbrink). I supervised preparations, Steve supervised biological evaluation. Mike Rodgers did computer interfacing.

Synthesis of 2-Aminoindanes

55° “Hot-Plate” Latency, 5 mg/kg Sec.

Mouse Spontaneous Motor Activity Meter 8 Photocells Computer

Mouse Spontaneous Motor Activity, 5 mg/kg Counts Per 30 Min

2-Aminoindane Conclusions No “really good” compounds were discovered. We couldn’t obtain external funding. No publications Steve became more interested in other research projects. 6 presentations at MAS, other meetings. 2 GRFC grants.

NASA-JOVE: Preparation of Non- Linear Optical (NLO) Materials NASA invited Southeast to participate. I had to find a NASA colleague to work with. Spent one summer at Marshall Space Flight Center and the Univ. Alabama - Huntsville in Huntsville, AL. 6 students involved (Jennifer Mabery, Jamie Carrigan, Angela Scates, Pat Zimmermann, Brian Taylor, Jeremy Wittenborn).

Preparations of Diacetylenes

Preparation of “DAMNA”

Polymerization of Diacetylenes

NASA-JOVE “Good News” Money for summer salary, student workers, travel, operations. Summer JOVE meetings in Texas, Florida, and California. Three publications and several presentations by my students and I from the work we did. Led to further collaboration.

NASA-JOVE “Bad News” My collaborator was only interested in his compound, “DAMNA”, and did little with 25 we made. He only contacted me when he wanted me to make more of his compound. He never made me a co-author on any of his publications, nor acknowledged the work I did.

Rainer Glaser: NLO Materials present We met at Organic Chemistry Day at University of Missouri, when I presented a poster on NASA-JOVE research. I prepare NLO materials, and Glaser gets X-ray structures and does theoretical calculations.

Preparations of Azines as NLO Materials

Glaser Results Two publications and one presentation. I received an ACS-PRF grant for my part of the research. Four students have been involved (Gary Bohnert, Scott Kirkley, Rachel Phillips, Steve Updike), one who is in the Ph.D. program at Missouri (Gary Bohnert).

Preparations of Ketenes with Jin Gong. Begun seriously in 1999 (some informal consulting earlier). I supervise preparation of ketenes, and Jin’s students react them with transition metal complexes. Jin pays for one student (Andy Gilbert) whom I supervise.

Preparations of Ketenes

Ketene Results Seven different ketenes have been prepared. Some ketene complexes have been prepared. At least one presentation will be made this year.

Acknowledgements All of the undergraduate students who did most of the work. Funding by NASA, ACS-PRF, GRFC, and the Southeast Chemistry Department. Helpful conversations with Southeast faculty, especially Bjorn Olesen.